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Lol the fish won't be the price of your average tetra but they'll be of average cost IMO.

In all honesty besides the wanams which I know will breed in my water I'm kind at a loss on what else fish I will keep in these tanks that will thrive/breed.

I'm thinking of using almond leaves which I know local breeders use to lower ph/hardness for spawning and then grow the fry up in unaltered tap water.

I wonder if the drip system would negate the effects of the leaves.. I know it would surely dampen their potency and I may have to use more leaves.

For plants the most I would be willing to do would be 1-2 pieces of Anubias (im partial to anubias), on a rock. These are going to be bare bottom tanks and I will use spawning mops/clay pots where needed. So I may have to look into additional aeration.

Hardy lol I know, but you have me beat on LFS! There are a good bit of guys in your area I would love to visit.

If you are wanting two sytems for filtration thats fine. I would invert (no pun intended) the rack to have shrimp on the bottom though as you would have the most loss down low if there was loss (like you had mentioned). Also I have been tinkering with the idea that if you used a sponge from a sponge filter over the stem pipe, you would prevent fry tansfer and add in tank bio filtration. Then you could simply drill a few through holes in the middle of the stem pipe, small enough to limit water level loss and large enough to allow flow through the sponge for bio filteration.

Mojo, you can breed a hell of a lot in that water you have. Im almost 9 and had fertile eggs at about 90% count before the female ate. Also in portland I was 8+ and had 3 breeding discus, wild altums, appisto's etc. If you can breed those guys you can do anything. My tds rating im sure was off the charts too.

My concern why I need two separate sumps is because if I need to medicate the dwarf cichlids for any reason, I honestly don't have anything set in stone, mramsey is sketching something up for me on cad, can't wait to see it.

But my LFS aren't that good, its the local guys that sell on aquabid that are great, mikeswetpets lives 5 mins from me, lotsoffish lives 10 mins away, and I know a few others. One of them might start selling some of my shrimp for me soon too

Yessir, wild altums after being drip aclimated and in a community tank. I stuck 6 in a 55 gal that were the size of a dollar folded in half with a bunch of hornwart. I got a pair and they got wrigglers in about 2months with no issues. I firmly am of the belief that its not water chemistry needed for breeding (at least most fish) its that the male has to be a good male behind the female. Now if its egg scattering fish, that may be different but I bred yellow rainbows in the same water.

I would be excited too! I dont have a computer at home with CAD drafting on it. I love that program and went as far as architecture classes back in high school. Since then I havnt touched it. I use sketch up though and like what i have found on that system.

Sandz, you're a boss man. I want a wild discus with wild altum tank so badly, complete biotope with amazon sun lighting and driftwood, little to no plants. But that's going to have to wait until I move into another house in a couple years.

Hardy85, enjoy your trip bro!, if either of you are ever in Trinidad hit me up, I'll show you guys the island and there's some good fishing if you're into that.

Now on the topic of this breeding rack build, I hope to have something to show you guys within the next week now that I'm on summer break. I'm about to do a 100% w/c on the 150, after I'm done with that, I'll post pictures of my new aquascape, stay tuned!

I think I am successful by accident honestly.. Ya know the discus we both love? that require all those water changes? Well I found in my high TDS and PH that my male developed pimples. They only last a day then leave a hole like a zit. I am assured by 5 breeders this is normal but there was no cure for it. I changed my water change schedule, let algae grow and make my tank ugly... it went away. Going on 1.5 weeks of not changing water but a 25% one this last weekend and no whipe down... He has been super happy since (at least not showing 'usual' signs of stress). Im expecting some mating here soon! but shhhh dont tell Simply, ill get shot.

Hardy, same to you! Have a wonderful trip.

I want to go to Trinidad one day. Farthest south I have gone is to the Bahamas.

Also Mojo, what type of system are you looking to set up? Also Hardy, on your build, what is your lighting situation that you plan on?